1642.

November.

other, the subsequent Request came along with it, which was to defire the Lords to join with them in ordering the Lord-General to draw out his Army the next Morning; and that a Proclamation should go out that Afternnoon for all Soldiers, on Pain of Soldiers to join Death, to repair to their Colours: And that the Artheir Regiments, my might not be at a Loss for Recruits, the Commons sent up the following Ordinance.

But, at the fame
Time, order all

And pass an Or dinance for en

couraging Ap

6

W

Hereas, in Times of Common Danger and Neceffity, the Interest of private Persons prentices to lift. ought to give Way to the Public: It is ordained ' and declared, by the Lords and Commons in Parli'ament, that such Apprentices as have been, or shall 'be, lifted to serve as Soldiers, for the Defence of 'the Religion and Liberty of the Kingdom, his 'Majesty's Royal Person, the Parliament, and the City of London; their Sureties, and such as stand 'engaged for them, shall be secured against their Masters, their Executors, and Administrators, 'from all Loss and Inconveniences, by Forfeiture ' of Bonds, Covenants, Infranchisements, or other' wife: And that after this public Service is ended, 'the Masters of such Apprentices shall be com' manded and required to receive them again into ' their Service, without imposing upon them any Punishment, Loss, or Prejudice for their Absence, ' in the Defence of the Commonwealth.

And the Lords and Commons do further declare, That, if it shall appear that the Masters of fuch • Apprentices have received any confiderable Loss by ' the Absence of their Apprentices, they will take • Care that reasonable Satisfaction shall be made un' to them, out of the Public Stock of the Kingdom, according to Justice and Indifferency.'

The Commons, also, desired the Lords to join with them in sending a Committee of both Houses again to the City, to acquaint them with the Reafons that moved the Parliament to send this Petition to his Majesty; and to let them know the Resolu

1642.

November.

tion of the Parliament is, That they will not agree An. 18. Car. I. to any Peace, but what shall be fully for the Prefervation of Religion, the Liberty of the Subject, and the settling the Quiet of the Kingdom: That if this cannot effectually be done, both Houses are refolved to spend their Lives and Fortunes in the Maintenance thereof.

To this the Lords agreed; and ordered, That the Lord Mayor should be defired to call a Common-Hall, at Six that Evening, if he could, or else at Nine o'Clock next Morning. A Committee of four Lords, with a proportionable Number of Commoners, were appointed to go to the City on this Occasion. At the same Time the Speaker of the House of Lords was ordered to write the following Letter :

To the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Falk land, Principal Secretary to his Majesty; or, in his Absence, to any of the Lords the Peers attending his Majesty.

My Lord,

I Am commanded, by the Peers assembled in Parlia- A Letter fent te ment, to defire your Lordship to advertise his Ma-inform the King

the faid Peti

jesty, that the late Petition, refolved on by both Housestion. of Parliament, will be presented unto him; which they believe proper for your Lordship's Knowledge, that so his Majesty may be acquainted with it; and thus I rest

Your Lordship's

November 9, 1642.

affectionate Servant,

GREY.

November 10. Committees of both Houses being And a Commitgone out, on their several Embassies, one to the tee go to acKing, and the other to the City, the House of quaint the City Lords only met and adjourned to the next Day, of London thereIn the Committee for the latter, were the Earl of Holland and Mr. Pymme, whose Speeches at the

An. 18. Car. I. Guildhall on the Occasion, not being printed in 1642. Rushworth's Collections, we think deserve a Place in

☑ these Enquiries. g

November.

The Earl of

The Earl of Holland's Speech.

My Lord Mayor, and you Gentlemen and Inhabitants of the City,

E are commanded by both Houses of Par

peech W liament to come hither, and to deliver to

Holland's Speech

on that Occafion.

you, that are their great Affistants, an Account of a Resolution they have taken to send a Petition to his Majesty, grounded upon these Reasons :

The first is, That there is a Duty towards God to seek Peace, indeed to seek it with all Men; therefore properly and naturally with the King: This they are directed to do. If Peace flies from us, to pursue it, to follow it: This is their holy Duty.

• They have likewise taken into their Thoughts, very ferioufly, that which may concern the Safety of the King's Person, being engaged in this last Battle, through his own Resolution and Adventures, to put his Person in some Hazard; they have a Tenderness of that; and, amongst other Confiderations, it is that which prevails with them to defire that He may not be in Danger, if it be possible, by a further Pursuance of this Action; which, in all Probability, must come to a fecond Blow, and that fpeedily, if there be not fome other Way taken for an Accommodation.

There is another Reason that they are likewife perfuaded the more willingly thus to petition and to defire Peace; that is, for the Saving and Recovering the Kingdom of Ireland out of the Distress that you have long seen it in. They know the Impossibility for this Kingdom to relieve that, if we continue in these Distractions and Confufions within ourselves; and, therefore, believe nothing can contribute or conduce towards the recovering of that Kingdom, and the delivering of those Persons from Dan

& London, Printed for Peter Cole, near the Royal-Exchange.

ger

1642.

ger that you fent thither, but our Quietness and An. 18. Car. I. our Peace here. If that Kingdom should fall into other Hands, such Hands as it may likely and pro- November. bably do, what Inconvenience, what Danger, must fall upon this Kingdom, from the Power and the Neighbourhood of that, you all must imagine.

They do likewise consider what Advantages, in the Distractions amongst ourselves, Foreign States may take, when our own Hands are weakened, and a Desolation through the whole Kingdom: Thofe that do malign our Religion, their Confciences direct them to destroy it, as well as their Ambitions to make a Conquest of the Nation; how open we shall be likewise to them for any Prejudice, or any Danger that may fall upon us.

' Befides, they have a Consideration of the whole Kingdom, that have so long continued in Peace, in the Blessings of Peace, so long in the Beds of Peace, and in the Arms of Peace, (for these hundred Years there have been no Civil Divisions nor Distractions within this Kingdom) and those Abundances that Peace hath procured, and those Happinesses which are all likely to be devoured by the Sword of War; as in every Part of the Kingdom, already you fee how it begins to destroy, with what Height, with what Power, with what Insolency.

These are Considerations, that have made them believe, that as it is a Duty to God, it is that which they owe likewise to the King; it is that which they owe to the Kingdom, in which they have been born and bred; it is likewise a Discharge of their own Confciences, that every Body may see that it is not their Faults, if Peace be not procured.

'But though they are thus refolved, and upon these Reasons, to offer a Petition, and to seek Peace by all the Ways that are possible, yet they have commanded me to let you know, that, as they defire Peace, they will prepare for War; they have given Directions, that this Day my Lord-General shall carry his Army out of the City; there is a Rendezvous appointed; they shall there draw themselves together in fuch a Condition, as, we are very confident,

:

An. 18. Car. I. fident, and very hopeful, we shall be able to defend

1642.

November.

And Mr.
Pymme's.

it.

We are likewise resolved, and so I am commanded to deliver to you, That as we have long kept together with Resolutions to defend our Privileges, our Religion, our Liberties, and Laws; fo we will continue in the same Resolution, and the fame Purpose to do so; nothing shall deter us from it. If we can find Peace from his Majesty upon these Conditions, that Religion, and Laws, and our Liberties, and all, may be happily secured to the Kingdom and to you all, we shall be glad of it; and it will be a Blessing to us, and to you all: If it cannot be done, we are resolved, and so I am commanded to let you know, nothing shall discourage us, neither Danger, nor Power, nor any thing; but if we cannot maintain our Religion, our Laws, and our Liberties, we will perish and die for it.'

Mr. Pymme's Speech.

My Lord Mayor and Gentlemen,

T

Here is little to be added to that which was faid by this Noble Lord, who hath represented to you (to you of this famous City of London, who will make it much more famous by these noble Affections, which you have shewed still to the Public Good, and by yielding so much Aid, and fo much Encouragement as you have done, to the Parliament in maintaining it) the Sense of both Houses, the Reasons and Motives upon which they did defire Peace: Motives, indeed, that have wrought with us from the Beginning of this War to this Time; for we should never have stepped one Step towards War, if we might have had, or hoped for, such a Peace as might have fecured Religion and Liberty, and the Public Good of the Kingdom; but truly ill Counsel did exclude us from fuch Hope.

• We now conceive that the King, having seen the Courage of his Subjects, having feen the Danger

of